Dunn & Bradstreet, Others Hacked for Personal Data

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• Dunn & Bradstreet, Others Hacked for Personal Data
• 14 WordPress Content Marketing Plugins
• New SEC Rule Doesn’t Enable True Crowdfunding
• 6 Myths and Fallacies about Small Business Startup
• Wix.com Announces IPO Plans
• New Website Offers Valuable Information and Tips About Accepting Credit and Debit Payments
• GoDaddy Continues Acquisition Path – Acquires Ronin Invoicing
• The Need for Speed: Site Speed Optimization
• Samsung’s Upgraded 10-inch Note Tablet Coming Oct. 10
• Podcasting Microphone: Review of MXL Studio 1 Red Dot

Dunn & Bradstreet, Others Hacked for Personal Data Posted: 04 Oct 2013 02:00 AM PDT The major objective of many cyber attacks on websites and databases isn’t compromise of your technology at all. Its the private information you’ve stored on your customers, clients or anyone else with whom you’ve ever done business. That point was again made last week with news that three giant data collectors –Dunn & Bradstreet, Hire Right/Krebs and NexisLexis — have been hacked. The objective: Social security numbers, birth records and credit and background reports on millions of Americans. Access to this information was later sold on a website for 50 cents to $2.50 per record or $5 to $15 per credit or background check, reports KrebsOnSecurity. The security news website broke the story after a seven-month investigation drawing coverage from national media and investigation by law enforcement. Your Customers Could Also Be Targets Of course, you don’t need to be a giant data aggregator to be targeted by hackers working to steal customer or client information. For example, smaller firms (250 employees or less) were the targets of 31 percent of all cyber attacks in 2012, up 18 percent over the previous year. Again, the targets of these attacks are often not the companies themselves but any information obtained from customers, in many cases during an online transaction. Information Companies Are at Risk All three targets in the recent cyber attack dealt mainly in the aggregating of information, reports KrebsOnSecurity. For example, LexisNexis has the world’s largest database of legal and public records. Meanwhile Dunn & Bradstreet collects and licenses information on businesses and corporations. And Hire Right/Kroll provides background checks, drug and health screening for employees. What the companies all have in common is the collection of a huge amount of data. Do you collect customer data in online transactions? Do you use it to create your email list or when you add customer information to your customer relationship management software? If so, then your business could be a target for cyber criminals seeking private information on the people with whom you do business. Hacked Photo via Shutterstock The post Dunn & Bradstreet, Others Hacked for Personal Data appeared first on Small Business Trends.

14 WordPress Content Marketing Plugins Posted: 03 Oct 2013 04:00 PM PDT If you're using WordPress for your small business website, you have access to thousands of WordPress content marketing plugins that can enhance your site's functionality and effectiveness. Nearly all companies engage in some form of content marketing. Whether you maintain a business blog, post articles on your website, use social media or combine these methods, there are WordPress content marketing plugins that can help you manage, promote and track your various content marketing strategies. WordPress Content Marketing Plugins If you run a business blog, you can use the WordPress Editorial Calendar plugin (pictured below) to help you plan ahead for your posts and more. The normal WordPress interface only shows one day of scheduled posts at a time, so this calendar plugin lets you zoom out and view the entire month—making it easy to see your schedule, add post ideas and drafts, and more. Another great tool for blog posts and new content is the Content Scheduler (pictured below). When you write or edit a post, this plugin lets you specify a future date to review the content. You can set the scheduler to automatically take an action you specify on that date, including: Unstick a post. Change the post category. Change the status to draft, pending, or private. Add or remove tags. Move the post to the trash. WordPress Plugins for Optimization and Sharing With a WordPress site for your small business, you can improve your search engine optimization (SEO) just by using plugins. One of the highest rated plugins for this category is WordPress SEO by Yoast (pictured above). Easy to use, even for beginners, this plugin comes with several features to help you improve SEO. Another popular plugin for this category is the All In One SEO Pack, with both beginner and advanced features. Social sharing buttons are another easy way to improve your content marketing efforts. There are plenty of WordPress plugins that let you add customizable social sharing buttons to your site: AddToAny ShareBar SexyBookmarks AddThis Slick Social Share Buttons WordPress Plugins for Your Visitors Content marketing relies on having people read your content. These plugins help you improve the user experience and encourage visitors to stick around on your website: Captcha (pictured above) is a plugin that requires blog commenters to answer a simple math equation to post. This not only cuts down on spammy comments (which discourage genuine visitors from interacting), but also makes comment verification easier than the standard hard-to-read random letter strings. Contact forms are handy and convenient for your website visitors to get in touch with questions, and easy for you with plugins like Contact Form 7. You can grab subscribers for your email marketing list through Constant Contact, Mailchimp, and other major email platforms with WordPress plugins. Tracking Your Content Marketing Efforts Finally, there are plugins that make it easier to use traffic tracking and analytics programs with your WordPress website. One of the best for the free Google Analytics program is the Google Analyticator, which includes a dashboard graph widget. Which WordPress content marketing plugins do you use? Plugin Photo via Shutterstock The post 14 WordPress Content Marketing Plugins appeared first on Small Business Trends.

New SEC Rule Doesn’t Enable True Crowdfunding Posted: 03 Oct 2013 01:30 PM PDT The Federal Security Exchange Commission this week announced (PDF) changes in the rules for private sale of stock in startups and other companies. The rules will now make it easier to market these private shares by promoting them in email blasts or over social media…or even through media advertisement. Previously shares could only be sold to angel investors, VC (Venture Capital) funds or other investors with whom the seller has an established relationship. The new SEC rule change comes on the heels of last year’s Jumpstart our Business Startups (JOBS) Act. It’s aimed at, among other things, improving funding options for business, including better enabling crowdfunding. But if small businesses hoped the new SEC rule change would enable true crowdfunding, as most people understand it, they’re mistaken, the New York Times reports. What the New SEC Rule Change Doesn’t Do The crowdfunding most people are familiar with involves sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Crowdfunding campaigns raise money from site visitors usually in exchange for an incentive. This could include anything from a thank you on the project website to crowdfunders getting a copy of the product, once developed. But the new SEC rule does not allow just anyone to buy a share of your company. Instead, investors must be accredited. That means with an income of $200,000 or more or with a net worth greater than $1 million, the New York Times reports. Of course, the rule does make it easier to sell shares privately. That means without filing with the SEC or publicly disclosing financials. And that is something that may interest smaller businesses. What do you think? Crowdfunding Photo via Shutterstock The post New SEC Rule Doesn’t Enable True Crowdfunding appeared first on Small Business Trends.

6 Myths and Fallacies about Small Business Startup Posted: 03 Oct 2013 11:00 AM PDT Starting and running a business entails creating products and services. Then there’s hiring contractors or staff, marketing your business, managing work, and accounting for every expense. Aside from the business ownership myth that creating a business is somehow easier than working for someone else, a few other myths about small business ownership are still prevalent. Some of these are just outright silly, but others could really discourage you and hurt your business if you take them to heart. Small Business Ownership Myths and Fallacies All It Takes is a Great Idea If this were only true, perhaps everyone could be an entrepreneur. But alas, it takes much more than ideas (great or otherwise) to make a successful business. Besides a great idea, you will also need to: Create an effective business plan. Develop marketing that effectively introduces your great idea to the world. Network effectively to create the partnerships necessary to get your product or service off the ground. Handle customer service issues and make improvements as you begin to get feedback. Scale your business and add members to your team as you grow. And these are just a few of things you’ll need to do to create a business that endures. Finding Investment Will Be Easy Unless Warren Buffet happens to owe you a big favor, not by a long shot! Many lending institutions require considerable personal collateral before considering a loan. This leads back to the old standbys of friends and family. We’ll assume for the moment, since you’re looking for funding options, that you’ve already investigated these possible sources. Another possibility is outside investment, including money from VC (Venture Capital) firms. But there are reasons VC funding may not be for you. In fact, only about 300 of the 600,000 businesses launched annually in the U.S. are venture funded. Look instead for alternatives like bootstrapping or using funds from an existing business to launch your small business. You Need an Office and Equipment to Get Started Some of the biggest businesses today (Microsoft and Google, for instance) started without any fancy offices or equipment. It's one of those myths that will kill your business even before you start it thanks to the drain that these overhead costs bring to your expense sheet. For most types of businesses, you don't need anything except your computer and a table to put that computer on. A phone and an Internet connection are mandatory too. Even if your business really needs commercial space, warehouse storage or the like, you can lease this space instead of buying. You Should Do Your Own Accounting, Bookkeeping and Payroll Taxing authorities require you to report earnings, expenses and profits with precision. It's also critical for your business because your company’s well-being depends upon it. Your personal earnings will depend on how well you manage your finances, accounting and bookkeeping. It's a professional skill and it's a full-time job. If you try to do all of this yourself, who will you get to run your business in the meantime? Compliance, tax laws, corporate legalese, accounting and payroll are too much for a solo entrepreneur to handle alone. Leave it to the professionals. You’ll Need to Hire Employees Maybe…and maybe not. Identify the work you need to get done. Then figure out whether you can outsource it to the rest of the world. Telecommuting is on the rise. Elance – a leading freelance marketplace, and only one of the many out there — has more than 2 million freelancers from around the world. Together they reportedly earn more than $500 million annually. And that number continues to grow. All around the world, more and more people are becoming involved in freelancing and telecommuting work. Freelancers don't need a place to sit or employer provided equipment. No expensive Internet connections, electricity bills, ongoing training or hand holding necessary. Companies save about $10,000 per employee thanks to remote workers. Success is About Repeating a Formula Apple changed the way we thought about computing. Amazon changed the way we shopped. Nope, doesn’t seem like the most successful companies in the world have worried much about repeating formulas. Maybe small businesses shouldn’t either. In fact, in a rather well-known presentation on the subject, author and marketer Seth Godin insists there’s no point in creating the same old thing anymore. Average products for average people are forgettable. The key to success is to do something different – something everyone will notice. Dragon Slayer Myth Photo via Shutterstock The post 6 Myths and Fallacies about Small Business Startup appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Wix.com Announces IPO Plans Posted: 03 Oct 2013 08:00 AM PDT Wix.com, the DIY website builder with more than 38 million users so far, has announced plans for an IPO. Wix.com frequently makes lists of top eCommerce solutions and top website builders for small businesses. In a registration statement filed this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company explained its services to businesses and individuals: We are pioneering a new approach to web development and management that provides an easy-to-use yet powerful cloud-based platform that eliminates the need for complex coding and supplants expensive design services. Our solutions enable millions of businesses, organizations, professionals and individuals to take their businesses, brands and workflow online. The company reports having $34.1 million in revenue as of June and will be seeking a maximum aggregate offering price of $100 million based on papers filed with the SEC. What Wix Offers Users Wix offers users a free drop and drag website design service and also some premium services at various monthly fees. The company also offers a curated App Market to help users design and maintain their Web presences. Those premium services include packages specifically targeted at small businesses and entrepreneurs including eCommerce. As of August 31, Wix claims it had 679,536 premium subscriptions, according to filings with the SEC. The company is based in Tel Aviv with offices in San Francisco, New York and Dnepropetrovsk. The post Wix.com Announces IPO Plans appeared first on Small Business Trends.

New Website Offers Valuable Information and Tips About Accepting Credit and Debit Payments Posted: 03 Oct 2013 05:00 AM PDT Sponsored Post If you are a merchant that accepts credit or debit, you have a lot of information to keep in your head about accepting payments, staying current on the latest technologies and program rules — not to mention watching out for fraud and loss issues. That's where the website from Community Merchants USA (CMUSA) comes in. We've been bringing you a series on accepting electronic payments and what you need to know, sponsored by CMUSA, so we thought we'd tell you a little about the CMUSA resource. Community Merchants USA, an educational nonprofit project of the electronic payments industry, has developed a: . . .complete online resource for navigating the world of payment card acceptance in order to add the most value to your business. The free site provides educational resources and tools to: . . .help small business owners understand how electronic payments can help you start, manage and grow a business. The site is aimed at any type of small businesses that accept credit cards and/or debit cards. These days that can include merchants, consultants, engineers, lawyers, technology companies, marketing agencies and other B2B companies and professionals — because clients and customers increasingly want to pay via credit or debit. That means you need to know about the best possible options and solutions for accepting cards. Let me highlight some features: Tools and Tips About Accepting Credit and Debit Cards No matter what your question is about accepting payments, you should find your answer on CMUSA. The Savings and Tools page is a great place to start if you're new to accepting debit and credit card payments. But even if you've been accepting cards for years, you will likely find information that will deepen your understanding and help you get more value out of accepting cards. The infographics, videos and articles offer information about interchange and checkout fees, the latest payment technology, avoiding fraud, choosing a card processor and more. Many business owners will find the card processor comparison tool powered by FeeSeeker helpful. You simply input a few basic facts about your business, and you receive a list of card processors, their transaction fees and estimates for monthly costs. The tool makes it easy to shop around to find the right fit for your business. You'll also find opportunities for more in-depth knowledge as well as networking on the CMUSA events page. The page lists live events across the country as well as free webinars about accepting card payments. Keep Up With Trends The world of card acceptance is always evolving, and you need to stay on top of things so you don't miss out on opportunities to grow. The CMUSA news page offers the latest electronic payment news from reliable resources such as Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal and even our very own Small Business Trends. You can also learn from the personal experiences and successes of other small business owners on the CMUSA blog. If you're looking for a little more personal attention, you can Ask an Expert. This feature is exactly what it sounds like: CMUSA brings together a panel of electronic payments and small business experts, and you have the chance to ask them about accepting card payments or business in general. The expert will respond within 48 hours and CMUSA will post your question and answer on their website. "Share Your Story" and Build Your Online Presence If you're already in the "world of payment card acceptance," you can write about your experiences through the Share Your Story forum. The payoff for you is this: If your entry is chosen, it will be displayed on CMUSA's blog to give you extra visibility. Plus, your story could help other small business owners like you. Everybody wins. Participate on their Twitter and Facebook Channels CMUSA also maintains an active Twitter and a new Facebook page. If you are on Twitter and Facebook (I recommend your business have a presence on both), I suggest following CMUSA. They will update both channels with new developments. That way, you can stay up to date with new information. The Bottom Line CMUSA provides up-to-date information about the many facets of credit and debit card payments. It contains valuable tips for those just getting into card acceptance territory, as well as news and updated information for seasoned business owners who want to get the most value out of card acceptance. Because CMUSA is regularly updated and actively tended, this site is a helpful resource for staying on top of the latest developments in card acceptance. The post New Website Offers Valuable Information and Tips About Accepting Credit and Debit Payments appeared first on Small Business Trends.

GoDaddy Continues Acquisition Path – Acquires Ronin Invoicing Posted: 03 Oct 2013 02:00 AM PDT GoDaddy, the domain registrar and website hosting company, has acquired Ronin, an online invoicing application designed for small businesses, based in Mountain View, California. In a statement on its website, Ronin founder Lu Wang assures customers that nothing will change for the time being, noting, ”You can continue to access and use Ronin to track time and send invoices as you have been doing. You can expect an update by early January as to the future of the Ronin product.” Ronin, while not quite as well known as invoicing industry leaders such as Freshbooks, has been on our radar for at least 3 years.  We covered it in our list of 50 small-business invoicing apps as early as 2010.   It provides built-in time tracking, the ability to create estimates, and integration with PayPal and Authorize.net to allow clients to pay electronically. GoDaddy is wrapping Ronin invoicing in with the features of GoDaddy Bookkeeping, a cloud product that currently goes for under $10 per month.   That product is the outgrowth of GoDaddy’s acquisition of Outright, also originally of Mountain View, in 2012.  Outright was designed as a bookkeeping application for small businesses and entrepreneurs who didn’t want or need all the complexity of a full-blown accounting application, but wanted something simpler and streamlined. According to a statement by GoDaddy Senior Vice President, Business Applications Steven Aldrich (formerly the CEO of Outright before it was acquired), "One of our primary goals is to make the 'business of business' easy, and GoDaddy Online Bookkeeping does that by taking the headache out of knowing their numbers." Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. This is one of those acquisitions that seems a natural.  It makes sense for GoDaddy, Ronin and, most importantly, small business customers. For customers it is convenient and easier to have a seamlessly integrated invoicing feature in a bookkeeping solution.  Invoicing and bookkeeping are closely aligned activities in a small business. For GoDaddy, it expands the functionality around managing finances that the GoDaddy Bookkeeping solution offers its customers today. For Ronin it’s an advantage to have access to GoDaddy’s huge base of 12 million customers. That gives Ronin a chance to be part of something much larger. And with access to GoDaddy’s resources, Ronin can expand the services provided to its existing customers. GoDaddy is in the process of transforming the company into a small business services platform — one that can serve the needs of small businesses beyond domain names and websites.  GoDaddy has been on the acquisition trail for the past year.  In addition to Ronin and Outright, it has also acquired M.dot, Locu and Afternic in the past 12 months. In 2011 GoDaddy was 65% bought out from founder Bob Parsons by equity firms KKR Capstone, along with Silver Lake Partners and Technology Crossover Ventures. GoDaddy is based in Scottsdale,  Arizona and has 4,000 employees. The post GoDaddy Continues Acquisition Path – Acquires Ronin Invoicing appeared first on Small Business Trends.

The Need for Speed: Site Speed Optimization Posted: 02 Oct 2013 04:00 PM PDT There are a number of factors that can impact your website speed – the number and size of graphical images, how JavaScript is incorporated and/or called for, whether cascading style sheets (CSS) are externally located or present in the HTML, how your site is coded and even your web server configuration. And while many webmasters are concerned with website speed as a search ranking factor, don’t forget about real live people who may be turned off and turned away by a lagging web site. No matter what kind of sales, promotions or content you have on your site, if the page is not loading fast enough, there’s a good chance that your visitors are going to navigate away and not come back. Businesses that optimize their sites for speed had 17% fewer complaints about response time than companies that did not. In the following infographic, Business.com looks at how website speed optimization can boost customer satisfaction as well as sales. [Click image for full size version] The post The Need for Speed: Site Speed Optimization appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Samsung’s Upgraded 10-inch Note Tablet Coming Oct. 10 Posted: 02 Oct 2013 01:30 PM PDT If you’re in need of the mobility of a tablet for business but aren’t impressed with either iPads or Microsoft’s latest crop of Surface devices, don’t worry. Imagine Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3 but as a full-feature tablet including a 10.1-inch screen size. That’s what we’re told to expect from the 2014 edition of the new Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. The tablet is set to go on sale Oct. 10. The Android device is expected to start at $550. New Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 Specs The new Samsung Galaxy Note tablet: Includes a 2560-by-1600 resolution display screen. Comes in a 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB version. Includes an 8 megapixel camera in back with LED flash and a 2 megapixel camera in front. Features the newly improved S-Pen stylus. Features a new Multi Window feature (see more below). S-Pen and Multi Window features The S-Pen is more intuitive and has its own set of commands making it more functional than an ordinary stylus. Samsung has also improved the handwriting feature making the feel of note taking on the device closer to that of writing on a real notepad. A Multi Window feature will allow you to operate two different apps at the same time. This feature could allow you to surf the Web while jotting down notes from specific websites. It could also let you easily drag content or other files from one app to another. Image: Samsung The post Samsung’s Upgraded 10-inch Note Tablet Coming Oct. 10 appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Podcasting Microphone: Review of MXL Studio 1 Red Dot Posted: 02 Oct 2013 11:00 AM PDT Podcasting is a popular and effective way to share your expertise. While newer social media methods dominate the news, audio and video continues to grow as a way to connect with a listener and viewer, that is, your customer. For some, recording audio from a simple computer microphone is acceptable, but as you increase your listener base you will want to get a dedicated, external podcasting microphone. The MXL Studio 1 Red Dot is a great USB-powered microphone at an affordable price. You can get their recording “kit” for around $100 on Amazon or your local electronics distributor. MXL is well-known and respected for its recording equipment. Podcasting Microphone: MXL Studio 1 Red Dot I am not a sound expert, but I have used several external microphones over the years to record both audio and video (well, the audio portion of my videos). But I have to say that this little microphone kit is now one of my favorites. It comes bundled in a durable carrying case, which is a small point. But one that makes a lot of sense given that most podcasting types are probably also mobile types. The company sent me a media review unit for this post. What I Really Like: I already mentioned the nifty carrying case. What can I say, I like boxes and containers. Another nice thing to have is the 10-foot USB cable. Before you scoff, how many times have you received a short 2-foot USB cable with some peripheral gadget because the company was too cheap to give you some leash. MXL knows their customer. Comes with a useful little tripod. (That’s also the main disadvantage as you’ll see below.) Works with PC and Mac. This is the best part is that it comes with a 1/8 inch headphone jack so you can monitor the audio. What I’d Like to See: A beefed up mic stand. This one will suffice as you get going, but you need a stable, secure spot for it. This microphone is made well, feels solid and has a professional look to it. I have used it mostly for recording voice-over type recordings, but also some musical work and it performs well. At the $100 price point, it can serve the needs of most podcasters until they start to get to the level where they are using a mixer board and other professional-level equipment. I would add the wind screen (pictured left), by the way, to keep breath moisture away from the mic itself and to minimize popping when pronouncing P or T.  The last thing I’ll mention is — it is plug-and-play, just as it says on the box. I plugged it into the USB-port and it was ready to go with Audacity, the open source audio program I use, in minutes. No setup required. Take a look at the MXL Studio 1 Red Dot if you’re in the market to upgrade your basic computer recording gear. Images: MXL The post Podcasting Microphone: Review of MXL Studio 1 Red Dot appeared first on Small Business Trends.

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Annual Report: Does Your Business Need To File One?

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• Annual Report: Does Your Business Need To File One?
• Payroll Cards Offer Alternative for Businesses and Employees
• How to Create a Facebook Fan Page
• Pinterest Contemplates Sponsored Pins
• Should You Allow Damage Insurance in Place of a Security Deposit?

Annual Report: Does Your Business Need To File One? Posted: 30 Sep 2013 04:00 PM PDT Once you've formed an LLC or a corporation for your business, your operational and administrative obligations are going to be higher than a sole proprietor's. While an LLC involves significantly less paperwork and formal administration than a corporation, both business entities generally need to file an annual report with the state. Here's what you need to know about this important filing to keep your small business in corporate compliance. What is an Annual Report? Also known as a Statement of Information, the annual report is typically required by the state so they can keep up to date with your company's vital information. For example, you may be asked to submit information about directors and officers, and the registered agent and office address of the company. In most states, there's also a small filing fee associated with the report. All states except Ohio and Alabama require some kind of annual report. When is the Annual Report due? Specific due dates vary from state to state. In some cases, the deadline falls on the anniversary of your business’ incorporation/formation date. In other cases, it’s when your annual tax statements are due and in some cases, it’s at the end of the calendar year. Be sure to know your specific filing deadline by checking with your state's secretary of state office. What Kind of Information Do I Need to Include in the Annual Report? The annual report will generally ask you for basic contact and operational information. The type of details you provided when you first filed to form your corporation or LLC. The specific details will vary by state and business type. For example, an LLC in California will need to provide the following details in its annual report: Business address. Member names and addresses. Business officers: President, secretary and treasurer. What is an Initial Report? In some states, LLCs and Corporations are also required to file an initial report shortly after the LLC/Corporation is formed. Like the annual report, the initial report contains basic information about business activity (registered address, directors, etc.). At present, the following states require an initial report filing: California Connecticut Georgia Louisiana Missouri Nevada New Mexico Washington What Happens if I Don't Turn in My Annual Report/Initial Report? These reports may seem like a trivial paperwork, but they're actually quite important. Missing the deadline can result in late penalties and fees (and there's no reason your business should pay a dime more than it ought to). In the worst case scenario (i.e. if you've skipped your annual report for multiple years on end), your company can be suspended or dissolved. In addition, you need to think about keeping an LLC/corporation in good standing in order to maintain its "corporate shield."  One of the biggest advantages of these formal business structures is that they minimize your personal liability (shields you from the activities of the business). But if your business happens to be sued and the plaintiff can show that you haven't maintained your LLC/corporation to the letter of the law (i.e. your annual reports aren't up to date), your corporate shield might be pierced and you can be personally liable. As a small business owner, I know just how hectic your schedule can be. But be sure to set aside some time to address your business' administrative obligations. Know your deadlines and get your paperwork in on time. It's a relatively easy task and will make sure your business stays in compliance (and you won't have to pay any hefty fines). Report Photo via Shutterstock The post Annual Report: Does Your Business Need To File One? appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Payroll Cards Offer Alternative for Businesses and Employees Posted: 30 Sep 2013 01:30 PM PDT Employee debit cards offer a convenient alternative to paper checks. A payroll card allows businesses to avoid higher payroll fees. It also gives employees who may not have a bank account an easy way to access their money. An estimate suggests $68.9 billion will be loaded onto payroll cards by 2017, reports MSN News. So you will be in good company, if you decide on this option. But beware of state and federal wage rules when putting a debit card payment system into place. The American Payroll Association and the National Consumer Law Center share some cautions. Keeping these rules in mind can help you avoid legal hassles down the road. Things to Watch with Payroll Card Programs First, be sure employees can access their wages in cash without fees at least once a pay period.  Some debit cards have fees connected to withdrawing money. But “free and clear access” to funds is required by many state wage and hour laws. Any payroll card program you put into place should allow this access in any one of a number of ways. They could include things like ATM withdrawals, convenience checks, cash back at point of sale services or bank teller transactions. Always Provide a Choice Second, make sure employees have a choice other than a payroll card if they prefer it. According to the American Payroll Association and the National Consumer Law Center, employees cannot be forced to take a payroll card as their only payment option. Direct deposit might be one option. However, some state wage and hour laws my also require a paper check option. For example, a McDonald’s franchise in northeastern Pennsylvania was sued recently. The issue was a payroll card one former employee claimed had too many fees, the Huffington Post reported. The employee also claims the restaurant offered no other payment options. Make sure you have all the information before starting a payroll card program in your business. Payroll cards can work effectively so long as you follow all the rules. Card Photo via Shutterstock The post Payroll Cards Offer Alternative for Businesses and Employees appeared first on Small Business Trends.

How to Create a Facebook Fan Page Posted: 30 Sep 2013 11:00 AM PDT Among social media networks, Facebook is the undisputed king. A whopping 3.2 billion likes and comments are posted on the social media site daily, according to data collected by Media Bistro. Facebook now has 1.15 billion users per month with about 699 million people logging on daily. Here’s how to leverage these users with a Facebook page that will build fans and customers. How to Create a Facebook Fan Page Creating your Facebook fan page is the first step in Facebook marketing. Create a Facebook Fan Page as a way to keep in touch with your customers. Use the channel to build your brand and to gain the ability to respond quickly to customers' comments, feedback and questions. Here's a feature overview (courtesy: Facebook Pages). When completed, your Facebook fan page should look like this: Your Facebook fan page should be a dynamic and interactive digital hub for your brand. Here’s how to get started. Step 1: Choose a Category and a Page Name Choosing the right category and page name helps your fans, customers, and prospects to find you easily. It also lets those who don’t know about you discover instantly who you are and what you do. Picking the right category and page name also helps with SEO (search engine optimization) and allows for extra visibility and traffic from search engines. Here are the six types of fan pages you can choose from on Facebook: Local Business or Place Company Organization or Institution Brand or Product Artist, Band, or Public Figure Entertainment Cause or Community Marketing site MarketingGum has more on what each type of page means and how to choose the right one. But unless you are an artist, musician, public figure or in the entertainment industry, you will likely be choosing one of the first three. Important: You can change the name and category of your Facebook fan page later on, but you can't change the type of page, so choose carefully. Step 2: Add Logo and Other Images to Your Fan Page Next, you’ll want to load your logo and some images. Assume you have been marketing your business for some time across multiple channels. You’ll want to keep your logo consistent. Your photos should give visitors an instant understanding of your business and the products or services you provide. Check out how major brands like Windows and Coca Cola have used logo and photos to build their brands. Step 3: Fill in the Details. Let the World Know What Your Page is About Fill in the basic information about your business and add your website URL. Think of Facebook as a social window to your business. What you write here helps create first impressions. So use the right personality and voice to represent your business well. Step 4: Tweak the URL for a More Memorable Facebook Address Facebook automatically gives you a dedicated URL for your Facebook fan page. However, the original one (default URL) is a mishmash of numbers, characters, and weird symbols no one would ever remember. Instead, claim your Vanity URL and change the address of your page to be more descriptive of your business. This will make it easier to remember and to promote later on. Step 5: Work on a Cover Photo Think of cover photos as flexible billboards. You can change the photo as many times as you like. The standard size for the cover photo is 851 by 315 pixels. And it will be the first impression visitors get of your brand on Facebook. Here are some of the choices you might consider: Pictures of people using your product. Custom graphics or photos that tell a story about your business or brand. Other materials related to your product or service: Album art work for musicians, a menu for restaurants, etc. A creative blend of images and graphics, perhaps incorporating both the cover photo and logo image, that tells something interesting about your business or simply attracts attention. Want more inspiration? Check out these creative examples of Timeline cover photos from Social Media Examiner. Get to Work on Your Fan Page Building Your Timeline and Writing Your Posts The Facebook timeline on your fan page is at the heart of engagement and brand building for your business. This is where it all starts. Andrea Wahl has a few good examples of how some businesses use timelines effectively. Facebook has added some new features such as the ability to "pin posts" and to showcase larger stories with extra large photos, videos and links to drive more engagement. You can add a "star" to highlight important stories or you can hide/delete stories if you decide not to display them on your timeline. You may even set milestones to define your key moments in history: Your startup date, your achievements, new branches, etc. You also have the ability to add specific milestone photos (843 by 403 pixels) as a way to use visuals for image enhancement. Keep Track of Engagement As you go about posting information, tips, and updates, photos, and milestones and responding to comments from your new fans, you'll also want to keep an eye on how your engagement progresses over time. Facebook provides you all the tools you need to study engagement. To start with, your friend activity snapshot gives you an overall look into how many of your friends like your page. You might choose to invite more people on your network when you think they'll benefit from it. On your "Friend Activity" feed, you'll also get to know what others have to say about your business. Your Facebook fan page admin panel will look like the snapshot below, with notifications, messages, insights at a glance, new "like" or "fan" notification box, and a separate link to view your page insights in detail (discussed below): Facebook also provides you with a way to manage your posts and content over time. You could manage all your posts (including the ones you choose to hide) from a central location. You can filter stories by year or type, or edit, delete, or star posts. You can also choose to review timestamps and make sure your posts accurately show up under respective milestones. Promote Your Facebook Fan Page Once your Facebook fan page is live, it's time to let the world know. Facebook gives you several ways to promote your fan page. You can "invite friends" or "promote your page" using paid advertisements targeted to other users. Your Facebook fan page, like any other digital property you own, has value by itself. So, it makes sense to promote and market your fan page just like you'd promote a website. Justin Wise of Social Media Examiner reveals 20 different ways to promote your fan page. The folks at Under30Ceo.com have another 7 ways to promote your fan page without spending a dime. Ann Smarty also has some advice to help promote your Facebook fan page and get lots of fans in a post at Search Engine Journal. Of course, you could go full-steam ahead on promotions (discussed in detail below): Do guest blogger outreach programs, launch webinars, give away free reports or whitepapers, get into conversations on other Facebook fan pages. You can join groups within and outside of Facebook, "like" other sites in hopes they will come back to “like” your page, and even use offline promotions to get the word out. Promotion > Exposure > Fans > Reach and engagement > Business. Super Tips on Facebook Fan Page Promotion It's easy to set up a fan page but it's incredibly hard to grow your fan page to reach a level where you benefit from engagement, conversations, and the community. It's all about building on the "like" button. Here are a few “super tips” to help promote your fan page. But before you get started, it's important to realize this: We live in a trust economy, as Gary Vaynerchuck of VaynerMedia puts it. To earn customers' trust, you need to give them value first (often for free). Use Webinars to Boost "Likes" and Engagement Webinars aren't for selling. They are for providing information and value. They are to motivate, educate, and train. Use webinars to "wow" your audience with information and value. Then ask them to “like” your Facebook page afterwards. Cross-Promote Place social media buttons or links within every email campaign. Print out links for your Facebook fan page on all your offline marketing campaigns. Be sure to include links for Facebook fan pages on your podcasts and videos. Guest Blog for “Likes” Marketers have taken to guest blogging as a form of outreach because you can leverage visibility on another popular blog. That often means that guest bloggers get extra traffic, credibility, exposure, and even conversions. Guest blogger outreach programs have been used for promoting blogs, businesses, and websites. But using a guest blogging opportunity to drive traffic to your Facebook page is another option. Distribute traffic equally to your fan pages and your website properties to get a better return from your guest blogging campaigns. Launch Offline Events Launch events on Eventbrite and start launching events locally on the subject of your expertise. Be sure to promote your Facebook page at the event and encourage those attending to visit and “like” it too. How to Make Facebook Fan Pages Stick: Adding Bells and Whistles Another great way to promote your business using Facebook is to use contests, videos and giveaways to drive engagement on your page. You can take a DIY (do-it-yourself) approach or find some special apps to make these events easier to hold and promote. Below is a list of tools that can help: North Social North Social has varying plans with apps including mobile sweepstakes, mobile coupons, and mobile signups (to leverage the fact that Facebook is big on mobile too). The regular apps include Instagram, deal shares, video channels, showcase, "show and sell", "Twitter feed", " sign up page", pages to make those "first impressions", and much more. Note: There’s a workable plan here for just about any fan page. If you have more than one fan page to manage, you'll have to look at special plans for large companies or agencies. Heyo Heyo, once called Lujure, provides an app that helps you launch promotions, deals, and contests. Using a drag-and-drop wizard, you can create fan pages that engage, interact, or maybe even dazzle your fans. Social Candy Social Candy has apps for running quizzes and sweepstakes, sharing content and coupons, and holding photo contests. WildFire WildFire features interactive campaigns, large-scale analytics, and targeted advertising. Though it works for many kinds of businesses, it is clearly meant for companies and agencies that manage multiple brands. MarketingGum Marketing Gum has apps enabling email opt-in, surveys, sweepstakes, photo contests, and many other features to liven up your fan page. With a far more affordable pricing plan, it's a budget alternative for bloggers and small businesses. Use Metrics to Measure Success Facebook provides you with Insights – its built-in metrics tool – to help you check on the progress, engagement, and growth of your fan page. Diana Urban on Ustandout.com provides a helpful post about how to use Facebook insights to measure and analyze your fan page. Often, you'll need more than just Facebook insights. A huge suite of free and paid tools are available. They include PageViral, Social Crawlytics, and many others. The post How to Create a Facebook Fan Page appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Pinterest Contemplates Sponsored Pins Posted: 30 Sep 2013 08:00 AM PDT If you have a business with an online presence, you may already use Pinterest to market your brand. The social site lets users “pin” images of their favorite things, but it could soon include Pinterest sponsored content too. This is probably not surprising to anyone who’s watched the development of other significant social media properties over the years. Facebook, Twitter and most recently LinkedIn have all moved to sponsored or promoted content models as at least one potential way to ultimately monetize their operations. But Pinterest seems especially cautious about its monetizing strategy. In a recent post on the official Pinterest blog, company CEO and co-founder Ben Silbermann tried to reassure users: I know some of you may be thinking, ‘Oh great…here come the banner ads.’ But we're determined to not let that happen. The video below explains how Pinterest works: Pinterest Sponsored Pins: Tasteful, Transparent, Relevant Instead, Silbermann promised users of the site any advertising would be tasteful, transparent and relevant. He also said Pinterest would take users’ feedback into account to improve the promoted pins over time. To start, Silbermann says Pinterest will likely try some test pins in the site’s current search results and category feeds. But he stressed these promoted pins will not actually be sponsored by anyone. They will simply be tests to gain some feedback from the community. Silbermann explained one specific example of how this might work would be promoting, say, a Batman costume under a search for the term “Halloween.” The Importance of Transparency Pinterest is probably right to be cautious. Last year, the company’s experiments with Skimlinks, an affiliate linking service, caused a bit of a stir. Enough so that Silbermann took time to clarify the company’s position and add some new disclosure language to the Pinterest site. The lesson is a good one for all small businesses. Many comments on Silbermann’s most recent post were supportive of the site’s need to eventually advertise. The important thing is to be transparent with customers about what you’re doing and why. The prospect of Pinterest sponsored pins also raises important opportunities for businesses already using the site for marketing. It will be important for those businesses to keep watching as Pinterest ventures into the world of paid content. Image: Pinterest The post Pinterest Contemplates Sponsored Pins appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Should You Allow Damage Insurance in Place of a Security Deposit? Posted: 30 Sep 2013 05:00 AM PDT I own a vacation condo on Lake Erie, just outside the town of Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio. Like half of the people who own apartments in the building, we rent out the property on a short-term basis when we are not using it. If you rent property to someone else, you face the possibility that the person renting will damage it. That means that I, like the many people around the world who now rent properties online through sites like Vacation Rental by Owner (VRBO), Owner Direct and Flip Key, face an important decision about how to protect themselves from losses from renter-caused property damage: require a security deposit or ask renters to purchase damage insurance? Damage Insurance Versus Security Deposit The field of economics has a very clear answer to this question. When you rent property to someone else, there is asymmetric information. Because the owner does not know how well the renter will treat the property, charging a security deposit is a good idea. Renters will have an incentive to take care of the property to recoup their security deposit. If you are renting a condo for the weekend and you have paid a $500 refundable security deposit, you'll think twice about having a wild party or leaving your kids unsupervised – one broken table could double the cost of your stay. However, many of the vacation rental websites offer damage insurance as an alternative to a security deposit. For a $49 fee, Homeaway, for example, offers $5,000 worth of damage protection to short term renters of vacation properties. In my condo building, several of the owners allow renters to purchase damage insurance instead of paying a security deposit. Their reasoning is that the insurance provides more damage protection. If a renter causes $4,500 worth of damage to their condo, they may be able to recoup all of their loss from the insurance company, but if they take a $500 security deposit, they know they can only recoup up to $500 worth of damage from yhose funds. Moreover, because the decision to return the security deposit resides with the homeowner, some potential renters balk at putting up $500 against damage for a stay of similar cost. As an economist, I am surprised by my neighbors' approach. With insurance, the owner is giving up the right to decide the validity of damage claims. If you've collected a security deposit and someone breaks a television, you can just deduct the cost from the security deposit, which is already in your possession. If you go the route of insurance, however, you run the risk that the insurance company will decide that the renter wasn't responsible for the damage and won't pay the claim. More importantly, the choice of a security deposit or insurance demonstrates a classic moral hazard problem. Moral hazard is the idea that people will take more risks if they don't bear the costs of their actions. For example, if you have a security deposit you want back, you will be more likely to tell your kids not to use the table in the living room as a piece of gymnastics equipment than if you have paid for insurance that covers damage resulting from their gymnastics show. Over the years of writing for Small Business Trends, I have learned that many people who read my posts know a lot about the topics I discuss. Therefore, I am sure there are many readers who have a lot of experience with the damage insurance question. So tell me and the other readers of this column: If you were renting out a vacation condo, would you insist on a security deposit or would you allow renters to purchase damage insurance instead? Jumping Photo via Shutterstock The post Should You Allow Damage Insurance in Place of a Security Deposit? appeared first on Small Business Trends.

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